Broken Camera,Broken Heart
by ILikeScarvesAndGuitars
Summary: PostRent.Mark lives for his work. But what happens when something happens to his prize posession? R&R! [Last chapter is up]
1. Cheese

**A/N: Okay, my second ever fic. I'm really happy with this one so far. Mark's camera does not break until soon (like I will tell you when,psh),so the only way I'm updating is if I get some reviews. What's the point of updating if nobody reads it? Anyway,I hope all of you like it and please please review :D And yes, I actually know somebody who hates cheese but loves cheese pizza. Her name is Jenna and she is the complete shiz  
DISCLAIMER: If I owned Rent, do you honestly think I'd be writing fics about it? No suh.**

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"Close on Roger. His girlfriend is gone away to her Aunt's funeral, so he probably won't be getting any for a few weeks." Mark Cohen smirked behind is ever-precious camera as his best friend Roger Davis flipped him the finger.

"I swear, you are like, attached to that thing. Permanently." Roger said between loudly chewing the BBQ chips he was eating.

Mark rolled his eyes and continued filming the loft randomly. It was raining and he certainly could not film outside, and he didn't think he had ever filmed the loft before. Not that it was exciting or anything.

"You are such a nerd." Roger laughed, continuing to chew the snack loudly.

Mark sighed and set down the camera on their kitchen counter and began to rummage through the fridge.

"God, we don't have any food at all. Except…this milk, that's long overdue." Mark swished the milk around in its container. It was clumpy for the most part, and thick, not to mention.

"Mhmmm…" Roger mindlessly acknowledged what Mark was saying. Roger always seemed content with food. Especially when it was the last thing they basically had that was edible.

"I think I'll go to the store and buy some cheese or something." Mark suggested, rummaging around in his pockets for some money.

"With what?" Roger snorted with laughter, "Dude, we don't have any money. Plus I hate cheese."

"You like cheese pizza."

"That isn't the point."

"Whatever."

Mark shook his head at his sometimes mindless friend and put on his coat and his trusty scarf.

"How are you planning to pay for the food?" Roger asked Mark in a taunting tone.

"I'll steal it."

Roger's eye's grew wide then snapped back to reality and laughed at his friend. "You?? Steal _something_?? Come on, Cohen."

Mark was about to lose it. Instead of punching out Roger, which he probably couldn't do, considering the fact Roger was quite taller then him and slightly (only slightly, in Mark's mind), stronger then he was, Mark took a deep breath and open and slammed the loft's door.

It was still raining so Mark had decided not to take his bike. With his luck, he'd get hit by a taxi or something. He shoved his hands in his pockets and walked along the busy sidewalk to the small store that sold everything from milk to razors. He was preparing to buy a huge block of cheese just to make Roger mad.

A bell rang as he walked into the store and he smiled at the cute cashier who was standing at the counter, and she smiled back. He made his way to the back of the store where they kept the dairy products, and picked up a block of cheese especially for Roger and a bag of milk. All of it was cheap, which made Mark a bit happier. He grabbed crackers too. He brought the groceries up to the cashier and paid with the last of his money.

Mark made his way back to the loft, a lot less mad then he was before. Maybe it was because Mark would be eating cheese for a month and Roger would probably be very pissed off at him. But Mark didn't care. If worse came to worse, Roger could always mooch off of Maureen and Joanne….

"Hey!" a rather cheery Roger greeted Mark. Mark could swear Roger was bipolar.

"Oh hey. Guess what I bought."

"What?"

"Cheese." Mark grinned from side to side.

"You son of a --"

_SPEEEEEEAK  
_

Roger glared at Mark with the 'I'm going to kill you in a second' look.

Maureen's voice screamed over the answering machine.

"OHMIGODMARKROGER! WEHAVEN'TSEENYOUGUYSINSOLONGANDWENEEDTOGETOGETHER --"

In the background Mark and Roger heard a rather annoyed Joanne.

"Jeez Maureen, keep it down. They can hear you in China."

Roger snorted and Mark rolled his eyes. Maureen's message continued.

"Anywaaaay, we were wondering –pookie and I-, were wondering, if you guys wanted to get together at The Life 'cause we haven't had a drink together in like, a million years. Anyways, we really hope you guys can make it and Marky, bring your camera!"

"So are we going?" Roger asked Mark.

"Sure, why not. It'll be fun. And about the cheese…"

"Just…. forget it." Roger sighed. "I guess I'm gonna have to eat crackers for the rest of the month."

Mark smiled as his friend picked up his guitar and went into his room. Mark had won, again.

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**Love it? Hate it? Please do tell.**


	2. Broken

**A/N: Gah okay, thank you for the reviews,and I would love to recieve more. I hope you guys get the La Vie Boheme reference ;-) I was going to carry it out longer but I didnt want it to come across cheesy (no pun intended). So anyway, enjoy and review review review!**

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Roger and Mark had left the loft around 9, since Maureen, through all her shrillness, never had told them what time they would meet them there. Mark had brought his camera, like Maureen had asked him too, and Roger had brought nothing except sarcastic comments that were expected of him.

As they entered the cozy hangout, they heard Maureen screaming at them from their usual spot; tables pushed together and all.

"MARK, ROGER, OVER HERE!!!!" Maureen waved them over like they were blind. Mark wasn't sure if Maureen was drunk or not, because sometimes you could never tell with that girl.

Hugs were exchanged between the five friends and Mark and Roger sat down.

"You guys…look great." Collins said after inhaling his joint a few times and putting his feet up on the table.

"So do you, Thomas." Roger smiled. Both Roger and Mark hadn't seen Collins in a while, and after Angel had died, they had really missed hanging out.

"Uh, are we gonna order?" Mark's eyes nervously flicked around the room. He loved his friends but so many people in a room like this made him self conscious. Plus he was really hungry and needed something more then cheese and crackers.

"Uh sure…what do you guys want?" Joanne asked, resting her hand on Maureen's knee while Maureen snuggled closer.

Mark shrugged. "Wine and beer?"

"Oooh, and how about some rice? Or beans or cheese?" Collins suggested.

"No cheese!" Roger and Mark both exclaimed, getting quizzical looks from their friends.

They gave the orders to the waiter, minus the cheese at Roger and Mark's request, and started to chat it up with one another and gossip.

Mark, as usual, took his camera and started to film his friends, giving close ups on each of them.

When it came to Roger's close up, he was less then amused.

"Dude…get that friggin thing out of my face or I'll -- "

Mark interrupted him, "Did you know, when I angle this camera a certain way…you look like a horse?"

The whole entire group burst into laughter. Mark smirked and Roger's eyes went wide with fury.

"Calm down, Roger, it was just a joke." Joanne stifled some more laughing.

"Yeah, whatever." Roger muttered shaking his head. God Mark was so insensitive at times.

And Roger never was at _all._

Mark stepped back, continuing to film. He loved filming his friends. He could capture moments, random ones, between each of them. Like when Maureen would throw back her head when she laughed, how many times Collins would take a drag off of his joint, or how Joanne was squeeze Maureen's knee every now and then.

Mark stepped back again, still filming. He glanced to his right for a moment and just then, the waiter ran past him, knocking his camera to the ground, breaking it into a million pieces. It was old, after all.

"OH MY GOD!"

"What the hell happened?"

"Oh my God, Mark, are you okay?"

"Mark. Mark…?"

"Dude, I think he's in shock."

Mark stood there, jaw dropped, hands in fists on his sides. He could feel tears coming to his eyes, and a lump in his throat, but he quickly swallowed it. The last thing he wanted to do was cry right now.

"God, Mark, I'm so sorry." Maureen said softly. She brought her hands around his waist and squeezed him into a huge hug. Mark stood motionless. Letting him go, Maureen stepped back, looking down.

"Mark…Mark. dude, we can just buy you a new one." Roger said, feeling awful for everything from the cheese incident to yelling at Mark. Not that it really mattered now.

Mark shook his head, bending down to pick up the tape. It was the only object Mark really had now. He took a deep breath, took his coat off of his chair and turned around and left.

_Just let me be. _


	3. He's In Denial

**A/N: Okay, thank you so much for the reviews, and I just want to address an issue in the fic. Near the end, in Roger's song, the 'slitting wrists' part is to be taken lightly. I'm not being rude or insensitive, I'm just simply writing in character. Oh! And there will be some drama in the next few chapters, just for a warning.Enjoy!  
DISCLAIMER: I don't own a thing except Roger's very badly written song.**

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"You okay?" Were the first words out of Roger's mouth the morning after the catastrophe at the Life.

"Yeah, yeah sure." Mark replied. Obviously he wasn't, but this seemed like the best answer to give.

Roger poured himself a cup of coffee. He sipped it, and looked up at his friend who had flopped down on their couch and was looking at a magazine.

"You know," Roger carried his coffee over to the couch where Mark sat, "everybody feels awful about last night."

"Mhmm, I'm sure." Mark said rolling his eyes.

"Well I --" Roger started.

"Look, I don't wanna talk about it! It's broken, it's gone, okay?" Mark's face began to heat up and he thought he was going to start to cry. Last night's occurrence seemed to run over and over again in his head, ironically, like a film.

"But --"

"It's an _object,_ Roger. I don't _care_."

"Yes you do!"

"Okay, so you know how I feel?" Mark stood up and turned to face Roger. "You always think you know everything!"

"Oh come on."

"Yes you do! How would you feel if somebody broke your precious guitar?"

Roger thought for a moment. "I don't know…bad I guess."

"Exactly!"

"Whatever, Cohen, you are overreacting. Nothing new there."

Mark didn't know what to say. _Was_ he overreacting? Being too dramatic? It wasn't his fault. Or maybe he was too attached to the camera, maybe he lived for his work a little _too_ much. It had seemed when Mark was so alone, his camera provided company. _Was _he meant to be alone for the rest of his life, only to have an object as a companion? All of this seemed silly and true to Mark. He just wanted to melt off the face of the earth.

"Look just…leave me alone." Mark sighed and walked over to the kitchen counter to get something to drink. He just needed to think without Roger's comments or distractions.

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Roger didn't feel too badly about what he had said, but he knew he had somewhat hurt his friend. 

Roger spent the day eating crackers and trying to write a song, which wasn't too much fun and it kept him busy. Mark, however, had stayed in his room throughout the day, coming out occasionally for a glass of water. He'd walk by Roger and not even take a glance at him.

Roger hated fighting with Mark, but they always found a way to disagree on something, and before you knew it, they wouldn't talk to each other for a day, but had gotten over it the next. Roger had a feeling this wasn't going to happen that easily.

Roger's first thought was to buy Mark a new camera. Easy enough, if only he actually had money.

Then he thought of stealing one, like he had suggested to Mark before when he had needed money to buy the groceries.

But the last thing Roger needed was to go to jail. Who would bail him out?

He tried to think of people who had money.

Joanne did. But he didn't want to take any from her. Or maybe she could lend him some. She was a lawyer, didn't they make good money?

Then he thought about that bastard Benny.

Like _he_, of all people, would give them some money for a camera.

Roger was coming up blank. His only hope was Collins, but like Joanne, he would feel awful taking anything from him.

He strummed on his guitar. He decided to sing a song dedicated to his predicament.

"Oh my friend dropped his camera / now he is sad / sitting in his room / thinking life is over / I hope he doesn't slit his wrists / that wouldn't be good / Mark cheer up / at least you don't have AIDS…"

He laughed at his own bittersweet song. He shook his head. He had to help, but how could he?


	4. A plan?

**A/N: I'm so amazed about how much people like this,thank you so much.Side note,but I dont know if Collins has ever called Roger by his last name,but in my mind,he has. And I decided to split up chapters 4 and 5 because having it as one would be way too long, plus I want to keep you in suspense! Review and enjoy.  
DISCLAIMER:I'm trying to think of a witty Rent joke but my mind is blank.And if anybody has named Marky's camera in the past,very sorry.**

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A few days passed by, and Mark was still obviously upset about the camera mishap. When Mark had sparsely come out of his room for that entire time, Roger needed to go talk to him.

"Just sing him a song or something." Collins had suggested when Roger had asked him what to do about Mark's sudden isolation.

"Yeah like that'll work."

"It might. Just don't sing him the one about him slitting his wrists. That wouldn't turn out good."

"How did you know I sang --"

"I know you, Davis."

Slightly weirded out by Collins sudden mind readings, and sure that he wasn't being stalked by him or something, Roger decided he needed a serious one on one chat with his friend.

Roger knocked on Mark's door.

Silence.

"Cohen, I know you are in there. I just wanna talk for a minute. Don't go all girly on me."

More silence.

"…Mark…?"

"Fine fine, come in." Mark finally sighed.

Roger opened his door and sat down beside Mark on his bed, watching Mark flip through a film magazine.

"You're beginning to act like me." Roger joked.

Mark slightly smiled but his eyes were still reading his magazine.

"Look, I can understand why you are upset, and I don't blame you."

"Did you take some sensitive lessons or something?" Mark asked him, rolling his eyes.

"No. But I know how it feels. To loose something."

"Ok, you are talking about somebody here, I'm talking about a camera."

"Well…your camera is a big part of you…and April _was_ a big part of me."

"Well you have Mimi now, so…"

"Look," Roger was starting to get frustrated. "Either you talk about it or you don't. I'm not gonna sit around here just waiting for you to say something. I have other things to do."

"Like what!? All you do is sit around and eat and _try_ to write a song!"

"Well it's more then what you do! I haven't seen you in like, 3 days. Everybody is worried about you, and you don't seem to _care_."

"Well I don't."

"Fine then." Roger got up and left his friend's room, closing the door behind him.

Mark was just too hard to talk to sometimes.

Roger sat down on their couch, trying to think of anything to help Mark,again.

Since he obviously didn't have a job, the 'buying Mark a new camera' plan was out of the question. But Roger knew he _needed_ to help his friend, but everything he tried backfired on him.

Too bad he never thought to _listen _for once.

Hearing the ring of their phone, he sighed and sat back to screen it. Roger hated talking on the phone more then anything.

_SPEEEEAK_

"Hey Roger….it's Maureen. Jo and I were thinking of a way to cheer Mark up cause from what I hear, he hasn't been doing too well since he lost Mike. Mike, his camera. See I call his camera Mike cause like….it sounds like Mark. And plus I like to name things but anyway," Maureen paused for a moment to giggle at her own joke, "just meet Pookie and I at the Life and don't bring Mark! Collins will be there too. Oh! And Mimi called to say that she's staying an extra week with her family, but she'll be home soon and she loves you and she misses you! Okay? Meet us there in ten minutes. Mwah!"

Roger rolled his eyes at Maureen's thoughtful yet equally hilarious message. Picking up his favorite leather coat he yelled to Mark that he would be back soon, hoping he hadn't heard Maureen's loud message, and excited the loft.

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**Sorry it's so short. I hope I captured Maureen in that message. She is so fun to write for .**


	5. Operation:Mike

**A/N: Yay I do like this chapter. Two things I should point out: A-I'm not sure how much camera's and film cost and B- I'm not sure how much Joanne would make, probably a lot but I don't know any lawyers. So don't take it really seriously. Enjoy.**

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10 minutes later, the four Bohemian's met at the Life. Collins, as usual, was smoking a joint, Joanne was dressed in a business suit, probably back from a big court case, Roger had figured, and Maureen was wearing a black shirt with tight blue jeans and a lacy scarf tied around her hair in a ponytail.

"Okay, we are calling on Operation Mike." Maureen stated officially, shuffling some papers in front of her, and sticking a pen in her ear.

"Mike?" Collins asked, thinking maybe Maureen was high or he couldn't hear right.

Joanne rolled her eyes. "Mike is Mark's camera. Well, _was_ his camera. Maureen likes to name _everything. _It got stupid after she started to name plates..."

"_Anyway_," Maureen said, rolling her eyes at her girlfriend, "I think we should, drum roll please…buy him a new camera!!" Maureen squealed.

Blinks and stares carried around the table.

"Uh, Honey bear," Joanne started, "look it's a great plan like I said before but, I think we all kind of thought of that already."

"And uh, where are we gonna get the money? It's not like those things come cheap or anything." Collins said, inhaling his joint and offered it to Roger who didn't accept.

"Yeah well…" Maureen looked down. "We could like…pool our money and see how much we get! Plus you two both have lots of money. Both of you have _jobs_." She said, looking at Collins and then at a slightly annoyed Joanne.

"Well yes, but I don't know if I can afford it…do you know how much camera's cost, Roger?" Joanne asked.

"How the hell would I know? I never liked the thing anyway." Roger sighed, drumming his fingers on the table.

"Point taken." Joanne sighed. "Well we need to get the money from somewhere. I mean….I just got paid but it probably won't be enough to even cover the cost of some new film."

The friends nodded and stayed silent for a moment.

"Well I dunno what to do. I love the Albino but…" Collins shook his head and put out his joint. Just as quickly as he put it out, a new one appeared in his hand and he lit it.

"Dude, didn't you say you just got paid a load from the last school you worked at?" Roger remembered, making eye contact with Collins.

All eyes fell on the teacher, whose face was starting to get red.

"Well yeah but --"

"But what?" Maureen asked, sitting up straighter.

"But I --"

"I believe you said, and I quote, 'They gave me so much money, I could buy a new car for each of you, but I won't.'" Roger smirked.

Everybody smiled at the now pissed off Collins.

"I hate you….all of you," Collins sighed. "Okay, how much do you want?"

"Well…Maureen and I could go look at some pawn shops to see how much camera's like Mark's old one cost." Joanne volunteered.

"Well, don't make it too much." Collins grumbled, taking the biggest drag off his joint they had seen in a long time.

"We won't break the bank, don't worry!" Maureen said, not sounding too promising.

"Ok, sounds good." Roger nodded. "He better appreciate this."

"I'm sure he will. It is Mark, after all." Joanne smiled.

"Ok so Pookie and I will meet you guys back here tonight, and Roger, bring Mark but don't say anything. It has to be a complete surprise. Mark will be so happy to finally get a new Mike!!" Maureen cheered.

Everybody stared at Maureen for a moment and shook their heads, and they all agreed to the plan. Operation Mike was in order.


	6. Friendship is Thicker then Blood

**A/N: Okay, my last chapter. Sobs all around, I know ;-) But anyway, I want to thank everybody for amazing reviews and encouragement! I hope I ended this nicely!!  
Disclaimer: Well I don't own anything, I rent. And if I did own the Boho's, I would be paying their rent for them, and I would have made Angel live. So there. **

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When Roger had gotten home from the now active Operation Mike, he found a calm Mark sitting on their couch eating what he figured was the last of their cheese and drinking a glass of milk. Roger figured he had never heard Maureen's rather loud message, which was close to being a miracle. 

"Hey." Mark greeted Roger as he took off his coat and lay it down on a chair near the door.

"Hey yourself." Roger smiled and he stole a piece of cheese from Mark and popped it in his mouth.

"I thought you hated it!" Mark laughed and Roger flopped down on the couch.

"Yeah well…it's grown on me. Maybe because I eat it everyday." Roger sighed and put his feet on their old living room table.

Mark rolled his eyes and took a sip of milk. "So are we doing anything tonight?"

Roger hesitated. He couldn't lie at all, so saying 'nothing' wouldn't really make sense, and Mark could defiantly know when Roger was lying.

"Well…uh, Collins and Jo and Mo were all planning to get together at the Life and I think you should come…they want you to come."

"Why?" Mark narrowed his eyes.

_Shit. _Roger thought for sure that he was caught.

"Uh cause I think you need to get outside. And you need to be around people. You are whiter then ever. You look really Albino."

Mark rolled his eyes again. "No worse then what you looked like for that year."

Roger shook his head, "No, I mean it. Get some fresh air."

"Whatever….I guess I'll go."

Roger was glad that A- the conversation was over and B- he hadn't slipped about Mike. Or Mark's camera. Whatever. Damn Maureen and her names for objects.

Roger got off the couch to fetch himself some coffee. Caffeine was exactly what Roger needed.

"Do you want some?" Roger offered to Mark.

"No thank you, I have my milk. Do you want any cheese? You seem to like it now…"

"Ugh, I had my fix for the day, thanks." Roger said sighing and caught Mark smiling smugly.

"Go to hell."

"You first."

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That night Roger and Mark made their way to the Life. Mark was still unsuspecting as Roger could tell. Roger, on the other hand, was nervous as hell. He was scared that

Maureen and Joanne weren't able to find a new camera that Mark would actually like. Although, what camera would Mark _not_ like?

As they entered, Roger noticed Maureen, Joanne and Collins all sitting around a table, not a camera in sight.

_Shit, they screwed it up. But how could they?_ All the things that could go wrong ran through Roger's mind. _Could they find one?_ _Did Collins really have all that money? Did Maureen drop it? Did Joanne back out?_

Maureen's cheerful voice distracted Roger's thoughts.

"MARKYYYYYYYYY!" she screamed, giving a surprised Mark a huge hug, and then giving Roger a bigger one.

Roger and Mark sat down and ordered their drinks. Roger looked at Collins who gave him a blank stare back.

"Did they get it?" Roger mouthed to Collins.

"What?" Collins said loudly, lighting his joint.

Roger shook his head. "Never…never mind."

"Anyway," Joanne cleared her throat, giving Collins and Roger icy glares, "Mark, how are you?"

"Oh, I'm great, thanks." Mark said, his cheeks getting red. God he hated all this attention.

"You look really_ really_ white." Maureen noted, taking a sip of her drink.

"Uh, thanks." Mark blushed even deeper.

"Uh, you didn't go and buy yourself a new camera, did you?" Joanne nervously laughed and her eyes flicked around the room.

"Why would I do that?" Mark asked, suddenly perplexed. _Why where they so talkative? Even more then they had been before?_

"Cause we--"

"POOKIE WE BOUGHT YOU ONE!" Maureen's scream interrupted Joanne's.

Mark blinked. "You...what?"

"We bought you one, silly!" Maureen smiled her eyes bright and full of life.

Mark looked at a very relieved Roger, a slightly stoned but happy Collins, a now smiling Joanne who was pulling something out from underneath their table and an even more happy Maureen.

"You guys really didn't have to--"

"Yes we did!" Maureen smile turned even bigger, "I mean, it was my fault that you broke it in the first place, so we had to buy you a new one."

Mark suddenly could feel tears in his eyes as Joanne handed him a heavy box, with a bright pink ribbon wrapped around it that Maureen had picked out for this special occasion.

He untied the ribbon and lifted the flaps open. A new camera, almost exact to his old one, was carefully placed inside, and a brand new roll of film.

"You guys…I can't believe….thank you." Tears streaked down Mark's face as he gave his best friends a very tight hug.

"So now you have a new…Mike?" Collins said looking at Maureen he nodded her head.

Mark stared at the both of them. "Mike..who?"

"Never mind." Joanne, Collins and Roger said in unison, laughing.

That night, the remaining five friends' drank and laughed, while Mark captured it on film, never even for a moment, feeling alone.

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**FINI  
Thank you Jonathan Larson.**


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